Sophomores D.J. Irving and Travis Robinson posted career-highs Wednesday night as the Boston University men’s basketball team beat the University of Delaware, 73-67, for its first home win of the season.
- AUDREY FAIN/DFP STAFF Senior guard Darryl Partin led the Terriers with 27 points during Wednesday night’s win over Delaware.
Both teams entered the game at Case Gymnasium having won their last two games – Delaware (2-3) owning wins at home against Cornell University and Lafayette University, and BU (3-4) having won two-of-three in Kingston, R.I. as part of the TicketCity Legends Classic.
In the end however, BU prevailed over its old America East foe for its third straight win.
The Terriers moved away from the Blue Hens, with whom they had traded the lead a total of 13 times, after a Robinson 3-pointer with 6:30 remaining in the game.
After starting in the past four games for the Terriers, Robinson had one of the best performances of his career. He took five shots – four of which were 3-point attempts – and made all five in his 27 minutes on the court. His lone 2-point field goal was also the Terriers only dunk of the night, a two-hander.
Irving wasn’t surprised by his teammate’s ability to dunk.
“[Robinson] used to do that all the time in high school,” Irving said.
Irving himself set two career-highs. He had seven rebounds and 11 assists for the Terriers, moving the ball around to his teammates on a regular basis. He contributed eight points as well, including one 3-point field goal.
“I wasn’t trying to force it and I was just trying to find open shooters,” Irving said of his offensive role.
Robinson was the Terriers second highest scorer, behind only senior guard Darryl Partin.
Partin scored 27 for BU, making 12-of-26 shots. He is now averaging the fourth-most points per game in the country.
In addition, Partin, the reigning America East Player of the Week, had seven rebounds.
On the other end of the court, Jamelle Higgins led Delaware in both rebounding categories, grabbing five balls off of the offensive board and seven on the defensive end. He also had 17 points, a handful of which originated with a flick of his hook shot.
The Blue Hens were led by Devon Saddler, currently the third-best scorer in the nation, who had 20 points. After going 4-for-6 overall and 2-for-3 from beyond the arc in the first half, BU limited Saddler to just two baskets out of 11 attempts in the second frame.
“In the second half, we did a better job and we were really trying to mix it up against him,” said BU coach Joe Jones. “We tried to blitz him on ball screens and keep him off balance.”
Delaware coach Monté Ross was impressed with his leading scorer’s play.
“I thought Devon had some good looks [in the second],” Ross said. “He didn’t make them, but he knows he’s a marked man every night we go out on the floor.”
Overall, Delaware shot worse in the second, making only 18.2 percent of its 3-point attempts and 28.6 percent of all its shots after shooting 40.0 percent and 57.7 percent, respectively, in the first.
Partin was involved in an altercation with Khalid Lewis of Delaware just over three minutes into the second half.
After sophomore forward Dom Morris made his first 3-pointer of the season, Lewis and Partin exchanged words and shoves as they moved down to the Blue Hens’ end of the court. Play stopped as the players on the floor gathered around the pair, and the referees broke up the war of words.
Both were given technical fouls for their actions.
“It’s no thing at all,” Partin said. “We weren’t going to take it anywhere from there. We’re all good kids here.”
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